Chachapoyas Discovery

Explore Chiclayo and the Tucume Pyramids and Sipan ruins before continuing into the cloudforest to the lost civilization of Chachapoyas. This trip in northern Peru features visits to the huge mountaintop temple and fortress of Kuelap, the Leimebamba museum with its collection of 200 mummies, and the Revash tombs. There is an optional hike to Gocta Falls, the world's third tallest free-falling waterfall.

Activity Level

Trip Snapshots

Day 1 Arrive Lima

Day 2 Lima Free Day. Fly Chiclayo

Most flights to Chiclayo depart in the afternoon, so the day is free to explore the museums, restaurants, and sites of Lima. Visit Lima independently, or we can arrange city tours and other excursions in Lima for the morning and early afternoon. Contact us for details and optional excursions.

In the afternoon, a private transfer will take you to the airport for your flight to Chiclayo. After settling into the hotel, the evening is free to spend as you wish. Northern Peru is rich in archeology, history and offers quite a geographical contrast to the southern region of Peru. From the 1st to the 15th Century AD, this region was home to some of South America's most prominent cultures - Moche, Lambayeque, Chimu and Chachapaoyas - who were exquisite craftsmen and excelled in the skills of ceramics, agriculture, architecture, metallurgy and warfare.

Day 3 Tucumee Pyramids and Royal Tombs of Sipan

This morning head to Lambayeque to visit the Tucume Pyramids. Tucume is believed to be an important regional center for the Sican in 1000-1350 AD, followed by the Chimu, and finally the Inca in 1450-1532 AD. An impressive site, Tucume is made up of over 540 acres and has 26 major pyramids and platforms.

You will then visit the world famous Royal Tombs of Sipan Museum. The design of the museum was inspired by an actual Moche pyramid at Huaca Rajada. The museum displays all the archaeological material found in Sipan, including one of the most important finds in pre-Inca history; the Lord of Sipan tomb. There are impressive collections of gold, masks, jewelry, scepters and hundreds of ceramic pieces. The tomb, discovered in 1987, was the richest ever found in the western hemisphere. Its importance is commonly compared with Egypt's Tomb of Tutankamon. Return to Chiclayo for the evening.

Day 4 Chachapoyas-Cocachimba

Today begin your ten hour drive northward from Chiclayo across Peru’s coastal plains, following the Pan-American Highway, ascending gently through regions of dry forest interspersed with irrigated farmland. Towards the lowest pass of the Peruvian Andes, at 2,135m/7,000 ft, where you cross the continental divide and enter the Upper Amazon basin.

Next, reach the bridge over the Marañon, one of the great tributaries of the Upper Amazon, which was formerly believed to be the source of that mighty river. Here enter the former realm of a mysterious and powerful civilization, the Chachap

This afternoon you follow the Utcubamba river, the main artery of the Chachapoyan heartland, first ascending a dramatic canyon then winding up the mountainous valley for a final magnificent drive up to Cocachimba where you spend the night at the Gocta Andes Lodge.

Day 5 Karajia or Gocta Falls

Gocta. Start our trek to the waterfall of Gocta from the front door our hotel. Enjoy this lovely walk through forest and farmland to the foot of the world’s third highest waterfall. Amazingly, the existence of these falls was not known to the world until they were spotted by a German explorer in 2006! Local people lived in fear of them and stayed away, owing to their ancient legend of a dangerous enchantress, the siren who lived in the falls. The walk takes approximately three hours each way, and along the route you have a good chance of spotting the Andean Cock-of-the-Rock, Peru’s national bird. The male of this large, brilliantly colored red-and-black member of the cotinga family sports a huge crest that completely envelops its beak. When the males gather they hop from branch to branch through the trees, insulting each other with loud squawks and screeches in an attempt to attract females. You hear the thunder of the Gocta Falls before you actually see them, a huge two-stage torrent of water falling from the towering limestone cliffs characteristic of the entire region. When you are close the falls are so high that the rim of the falls, 771m/2,528ft above, seems to be lost in the sky. Relax here enjoying the refreshing mist of the falls and enjoying the surrounding forest, viewing hummingbirds, toucanets, and, with luck, a troupe or two of capuchin or woolly monkeys. During the dry season when the volume of water is not too ferocious, those willing to face the chilly waters (and perhaps the siren!) can bathe in the pool beneath the falls. We hike back to Cocachimba and continue to El Chillo in time for dinner.

Karajía. Today head back through the Utcubamba valley and drive through the canyon until we can cross over to the neighboring Province of Luya. From the town of Luya we drive on to the village of Cruz Pata, where a short walk (45min) takes us down to Karajia. These striking sarcophagi, sculptured like humans have become an icon of the area. For 750 years they have looked towards the rising sun and undoubtedly are the resting place for some elite members of Chachapoya warriors. Continuing on your adventure, drive on to El Chillo a former hacienda and here you stay the night.

Day 6 Kuelap

Leaving El Chillo, drive 1.5 hours to the largest ancient stone structure in South America - Kuelap. Today spend a full day visiting Kuelap, beginning with a drive through places whose names -- Choctamal, Longuita, and Kuelap itself -- evoke a lost language and a vanished ancient people who spoke it, the Chachapoyans. It is not known what this civilization originally called themselves, but the Incas who finally conquered these fierce warriors knew them as the, Chachaphuyu -- Cloud People -- after the cloud-draped region where they lived.

For years Kuelap was believed to have been a Chachapoyan fortress with some massive walls that soar to a height of 19m/62ft and few narrow entrance ways ideal for defense. Yet the archaeological evidence now suggests that this was principally a religious and ceremonial site.

Chachapoyas was not a nation, or an empire, but some sort of federation of small states centered on numerous settlements scattered across their mountainous territory. The earliest settlement dates obtained here suggest that its construction began around 500A.D. and, like the Moche coastal pyramids, it was built in stages as a series of platforms, one atop the other. It is now a single enormous platform nearly 600m/2,000ft long, stretched along a soaring ridgetop. Seen from below, its vast, blank walls give no hint of the complexity and extent of the buildings above creating a maze of structures in a variety of styles and sizes. Even today, Kuelap’s remoteness ensures that only a handful of other visitors are there to share it with you.

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Day 7 Cliff Tombs of Revash and Leymebamba

This morning you will drive to Yerbabuena (1 hour) where you then get a chance to walk for a steady 2 hours uphill for a close up view of a spectacularly colorful cliff tomb. This is Revash, a group of tombs standing as ruined structures still bearing their original coat of red and white pigment. There are two adjacent sets of caves, featuring cottage-sized structures covered in still-bright mineral-oxide paintwork. Some of them look like cottages, with gabled roofs, others like flat-topped apartments. They are adorned with red-on-white figures and geometrical symbols -- a feline, llamas, circles, ovals, crosses and T-shapes - that perhaps once told the rank and lineage of the tombs’ occupants. They are silent, empty, their contents long ago looted, but their facades still trying to tell us a story whose meaning was lost long ago.

Retracing your steps, continue your journey to Leymebamba. This settlement was established by the Incas during their conquest of the region, and continued as a colonial town under the Spanish. It retains much of this antique charm in its balconied houses with narrow streets where more horses than cars are parked. Visit the Leimebamba Museum with a delightful collection of extraordinary artifacts recovered from another group of cliff tombs discovered as recently as 1997 at the remote Laguna de los Condores, high in the mountains east of the town. A big picture window offers a view of the temperature- and humidity-controlled temporary “mausoleum” where more than two hundred well-preserved mummies are kept.

This evening overnight in Leymebamba for a restful night's sleep.

Day 8 Leymebamba to Cajamarca

Today, drive along one of the most spectacular roads in Peru. Start by driving up to a pass (3600m) overlooking the Marañon Canyon. The road heads down to the river through many different eco systems. Cross the bridge at the valley bottom at 850m, then drive up 2400m to the western side of the canyon. A little beyond is the market town of Celendin famous for its straw hats. Another 3 hours, crossing high rolling hills and agricultural land and you arrive in Cajamarca to overnight for the evening.

Day 9 Cajamarca Fly Lima

1 Breakfast, 1 Lunch

Explore the city of Cajamarca this morning. First travel to the southwest and visit the pre-Inca aqueduct site of Cumbe Mayo. The aqueduct is set in a beautiful location of rock formations and itself is carved through rock in places, taking water from the Pacific watershed to the Atlantic side. Returning to Cajmarca you will see the Santa Apolonia which affords a great lookout of the city, the Belen Complex and the Rescue Room, where Atahualpa was held and ransomed after being captured by the conquistadors in 1532. After lunch the tour ends in time for the afternoon flight to Lima.

We Love to Talk Travel

This was my first experience with Adventure Life - and I couldn't have been more pleased with the trip. The guides and local staff in both Buenos Aires and Uruguay were terrific - extremely helpful and accommodating. I really enjoyed meeting the friendly staff in Buenos Aires in person (I left my bags with them for the afternoon).

Karen Snider

When to Go

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Good to ideal period to travel, and many people choose to visit at this time.

Typically not offered during this period because of weather conditions.